Peregrine Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:PPHM) Is One To Watch Ahead Of Earnings

Our more regular readers will know that Peregrine Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:PPHM) is one of the stocks we visit regularly. The company – as we have stated in the past, and an opinion that still stands – is one of the most mis-valued/misunderstood entities in biotech, and it can only be a matter of time before markets pick up on the discrepancy, and revalue to negate it.Well, we're about to get an earnings release, and the report should serve to draw considerable speculative attention towards the company. It's not going to bring about the total revaluation we think Peregrine deserves, but it will likely build on the momentum in both price and volume that we've seen materialize over the last moth or so, and in turn, should drive some upside.Here's what we are looking for from the upcoming numbers, and what we are watching beyond the release as operational catalysts.By way of a quick introduction, Peregrine is a development biotechnology company/contract manufacturer hybrid. It is pushing a development pipeline full of oncology assets towards commercialization under the Peregrine moniker, while also generating revenues (and substantial revenues, at that) from the manufacturing arm of its business, which it operates under the name Avid.Financials for the second quarter of fiscal 2017, which ran through end October 2016, reported $23.3 million in revenues. All of these revenues came from the Avid side of the business. Management stated on a previous conference call that full year 2017 guidance comes in at $50-55 million. The six months to October 31, 2016 (so, the first two quarters of the fiscal year) generated $28.98 million revenues for Avid, and by proxy, Peregrine. That leaves around $25 million left from guidance, spread across quarters three and four.We may see the company report a quarter over quarter decrease, then, when the new numbers hit. A headline interpretation of this might be a sell off, but don't get fooled. It's still a dramatic increase year over year, and is just the beginning of an ever larger increase driven by the opening of a new manufacturing facility this year.If the headlines highlight a quarter quarter revenue decline, therefore, and the company dips, it might be a nice opportunity to load up cheap.One of the things we like most about this company is that these revenues go straight towards the funding of its development pipeline. In other words, Avid pays for Peregrine's R&D. There's still a small shortfall that needs to be met, but it's not much, and it dramatically reduces the dilution risk that early stage shareholders face when they pick up an exposure to Peregrine's development program, as compared to the risk they take on with an exposure to the pipeline of another development stage biotech.This pipeline gives us the operational catalysts we're keeping an eye on going forward. The SUNRISE trial was a setback, but we should see some fresh information from its follow up investigation (rooted in biomarkers – something readers can get more info about in our previous coverage here) near term. This may even come during the conference call that accompanies the earnings numbers.Beyond that, there's an ovarian cancer platform that we highlighted earlier this month as potentially forming the basis of a partnership between Peregrine and a big name in the sector. Again, it's well worth getting clued in on this potential by way of this piece.So what's next?We're looking to the earnings release, and the accompanying call, as crucial in forming a timeline of catalysts throughout the remainder of 2017. We'd like to see management reinforce the previously offered topline guidance, as well as bring us some degree of clarity into whether the new facility will open as planned later this year, or whether there's any delay.Earnings guidance states March 7-13.We will be updating our subscribers as soon as we know more. For the latest updates on PPHM, sign up below!Disclosure: We have no position in PPHM and have not been compensated for this article.